Prov­ince bats­men keep their heads to edge out North­erns

WESTERN PROV­INCE be­gan their Khaya Ma­jola cam­paign on Thurs­day with a thrilling one-wicket win over North­erns in a low-scor­ing time match at Ron­de­bosch Boys’ High.

Set a modest 143 for vic­tory, Prov­ince lost wick­ets at reg­u­lar in­ter­vals and were left still re­quir­ing 10 runs for vic­tory with one wicket in hand.

Taariq Chieck­tey (30) and No 11 Nt­sika Shushu (3no) han­dled the pres­sure to get the win.

Prov­ince’s run-chase on a lively pitch saw in-form opener Seb Gold­ing out for a duck, one of five vic­tims for im­pres­sive speed­ster Charl van der Merwe who took three of the first five wick­ets to fin­ish with fig­ures of 5/20 off 10 overs.

He was ably sup­ported by all-rounder Jo­vaun van Wyn­gaardt (3/37).

Prov­ince lost opener Matthew Nor­ris (19), Ru­dolph Cronje (9) and David Bed­ing­ham (9) as they strug­gled to 51/4. But an ag­gres­sive 45-ball 40 from cap­tain Hilio de Abreu (top score; 45 balls) saw him and Ja­son Smith add 35 for the fifth- wicket be­fore Smith de­parted for seven.

De Abreu and Chieck­tey were the only Prov­ince bats­men to break the 20-run bar­rier as ball dom­i­nated through­out.

When De Abreu de­parted with the score on 94/6, a tense run- in en­sued. North­erns gained the as­cen­dancy with three quick wick­ets to re­duce Prov­ince to 134/9.

Prov­ince, thanks to a wellplayed 30 off 56 balls from wick­et­keeper/ bats­man Chieck­tey, held on to scrape home.

Ear­lier, af­ter be­ing sent into bat, North­erns found the go­ing tough on a lively pitch early on as they as reached tea on 49/5.

A stub­born sev­enth-wicket stand be­tween Dim­itri Saun­ders (21) and Van Wyn­gaardt (49 not out off 69 balls, six fours and one six) saw them re­cover to 129/7.

The Prov­ince bowl­ing at­tack, a mix of pace and spin, while er­ratic at times, did well to re­strict North­erns to 142 off 56.5 overs. Pace­men Travis Muller (2/23 ) and Josh Frans- man (2/11) bowled with venom and pace with the new ball to cause the ini­tial dam­age, while spin­ners Gold­ing (2/34) and De Abreu (2/30) kept it tight.

But on an open­ing day where runs were hard to come by, no less than five bowlers man­aged five-wicket hauls.